Boston Athenaeum

Library services - see schedule o.library services - the library is the largest programmatic activity ofthe Boston Athenaeum, serving approximately 5,000 members, theirfamilies, the scholarly community, students, and other members of thepublic. It is composed of two principal departments: reader servicesand technical services. Reader services at the Boston athenaeumcomprises the public departments that offer library services. the headof reader services and the archivist/reference librarian work at thereference desk; they answer hundreds of members and researchers'questions and assist in the use of circulating materials, specialcollections, electronic resources, and online research. Thousands ofrare materials are provided for the 200-300 researchers who use thespecial collections reading room every year. the head of circulationand the reader services assistant manage activity at the circulationdesk, where roughly 18,000 items circulate each year. Five internsassist at circulation and reference. the children's librarian helpsyounger members use the children's library, and offers programsincluding story hours and reading groups, designed specifically forchildren. Nineteen discussion groups and over 150 tours of the building are arranged by reader services every year. the technical services department, managed by the chief technical services librarian, encompasses the functions of acquisitions, cataloging, serials, conservation, and digitization. the units of acquisitions, cataloging, and serials include, an acquisitions librarian, a serials librarian, three rare materials catalog librarians, two cataloging assistants, and three interns. They are responsible for selecting, acquiring, accessioning, invoicing, cataloging, and processing approximately 2,700 additions to the library per year, including both new imprints and rare historical volumes. the department also augments approximately 3,000 legacy cataloging records per year.

Lectures & concerts - see schedule olectures & concerts - the lectures and concerts program includesapproximately 100 events each year, such as author talks, lectures,concerts, children's events, exhibition receptions and movies. Eventstake place both in the evening and during the day and include eventsthat are open to the general public as well as events for athenaeummembers.

Special collections - see schedule o.special collections - the special collections department is composed ofthe curators who oversee the acquisition, maintenance, and exhibitionof rare books, archival documents, manuscripts, maps, and works of art.department staff members include the curator of rare books andmanuscripts, the curator of paintings and sculpture, the associatecurator of paintings and sculpture, the archivist,and the curator of prints and photographs. the curators researchobjects in the collections and disseminate information about them tothe scholarly community at large and to the public through lectures,publications, and (in cooperation with libraries, archives, and museumsaround the country) an active loan program. Each year, on site, thecurators assist hundreds of Athenaeum members and visiting scholars inresearching the Athenaeum's collections. the curatorial staff mountstwo or three exhibitions per year covering a range of historical andcontemporary subjects. These exhibitions are accompanied by gallerytalks, lectures, and symposia, all of which are open to the public.

Conservation - since 1963, the conservation labratory has been dedicated to the long-term preservation of the Athenaeum's holdings with inherent historic artistic or literary value. the conservation department includes the chief conservator and the associate conservator, and several interns and fellows. Athenaeum conservators perform conservation treatments on rare and circulating books, maps, manuscripts, prints, architectural drawings, broadsides, and pamphlets, and follow preventive conservation protocols. Digital programs - the digital programs department is dedicated to the enhancement of scholarly access to the collections through digitization. the head of digital programs and two interns scan collection materials in the imaging studio and create online records containing digital surrogates with their corresponding metadata. These efforts ensure that Athenaeum collections are available freely online to scholars, researchers, students, and to anyone in the world with an internet connection.